Mark Black
Resurgo Training Solutions
Speaker
Mark Black is a resilience expert, coach, author, and heart and double-lung transplant recipient. Less than three years after his transplants, he became the only man in history to run a marathon with someone else’s heart and lungs. Then he did it, three more times. Black helps people break through their limitations. He doesn’t just teach resilience, he embodies it. His coaching programs provide clients with the tools to transform adversity into a competitive advantage. Black is a Certified Speaking Professional who has inspired more than 150,000 people. He has worked with global brands including Exxon Mobil and Mercedes Benz, as well as national and regional associations.
Closing Keynote and Prize Drawing: The Resilience Roadmap™

Tony Brigmon
Former Southwest Airlines CEO Howard Putnam appointed Tony Brigmon as the organization’s official “Ambassador of Fun.” He received the President's Award, which recognizes the one individual who most exemplified Southwest Airlines. He helped the organization’s corporate culture recognize and reward humor and creativity for serious results. Brigmon is an astute observer of super-performing human behavior and an expert at using interactive fun to teach best practices. He has earned recognition nationally and internationally for his presentation, training, and consulting work, always with the aim of maximizing engagement, energizing transformation, and enriching lives. Brigmon has delivered more than 2,000 presentations worldwide, and he is the author of “The FUNomenal™ Workplace: Energizing People and Culture with the Positive Power of FUN.”
Welcome & Opening Keynote Session: The FUN-omenal™ Workplace

K Eswaramoorthy
CFPB
Sr Program Manager-Debt Collections
Gandhi Eswaramoorthy is a Senior Program Manager for Debt Collections within the Consumer Credit, Payments, and Deposits Markets group of the Division of Research, Markets and Regulations at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Prior to joining the Bureau in 2017, Gandhi has spent more than 25 years working on all aspects of credit card risk management including risk modeling, account management, collections and recovery policy and strategy at several large card issuing banks. Gandhi has a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.
General Session: Lending & Collections Regulatory Update

Roman Nazarewycz
Zest AI
Director of Client Engagement
Roman Nazarewycz focuses on building long-term strategic relationships that deliver value to credit unions and their members. He brings over two decades of experience in the financial services industry, focusing on credit unions and emphasizing strategic growth and client development. Before joining Zest AI, he held a leadership position at Qunite Financial Technologies. Nazarewycz’s professional background includes positions with several respected organizations, including Fiserv, CheckAlt, and PSCU.
General Session: AI-Driven Resilience

Ligia Vado
Credit Union National Association
Senior Economist
Ligia (Ligi) Vado has over 20 years of experience leveraging economics and finance policy research. She joined the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) in 2022 – the largest and most influential national trade association advocating for America's credit unions. There are over 5,000 credit unions nationwide, with a total of more than 130 million memberships and over $2 trillion in assets.

Ligi serves as a Senior Economist in CUNA’s Policy Analysis department. In that role, she conducts economic research and supports CUNA’s public relations and advocacy efforts. Her work centers on data analysis and effective data visualization and she also contributes to the department’s forecasting function.
Her views and analyses appear in trade publications such as Credit Union Magazine.

Vado has extensive experience developing data science solutions, machine learning models, as well as quantitative analysis. Before joining CUNA, she was an Adjunct Professor of Business Analytics at Thomas More University.

She knows credit unions – having served as an Insights and Analytical Services analyst for CUNA Mutual Group. Prior to that she was a Disaster Risk Financing & Insurance Specialist at the World Bank where she focused on policy research and supporting risk financing and international housing finance initiatives.

Ms. Vado earned a Ph.D. in Economics from North Carolina State University. She also has a master’s degree in Economics from N.C. State and an M.Sc. in Agricultural & Applied Economics from Texas Tech University. Her bachelor’s degree - in Economics & Finance - was earned from Thomas More University – Managua, Nicaragua. She holds dual American and Italian citizenships.
General Session: Economic Update